


i'm taken (he is too)

by imgoingtocrash



Series: Pepperony Week 2020 [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Banter, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flirting, Hickeys, Love Bites, Pepperony Week, Post-Iron Man 2, Public Display of Affection, Reverse Fake Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24845698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgoingtocrash/pseuds/imgoingtocrash
Summary: He smirks, crossing one leg over another and leaning back into his chair with a cocksure, “Oh, that?”“Tony—““I don’t see the big deal. It’s not like I went for your neck, your arms…you covered it up just fine.”“It’s—you—!” She points her finger, then seems to realize she’s still standing there with her shirt open and buttons it up in a huff. “We’re not supposed to be dating, and you—youmarkedme!”Tony and Pepper agreed to keep their new relationship private, but Tony couldn’t resist leaving evidence behind that indicates otherwise. (And maybe it’s about something more than Tony just feeling a little possessive.)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Pepperony Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796032
Comments: 17
Kudos: 122





	i'm taken (he is too)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pepperony Week Day 2! For this prompt, rather than just a Fake Dating AU…how about a Reverse Fake Dating fic? Okay, fine, mostly so that I can continue to write Post-IM2 content to my heart’s content, it is what it is.
> 
> Title from _Taken_ by Hayley Williams.

Tony has been in this meeting for an hour, and he’s only just resorted to doodling in the margins of the handout like a bored student.

He tries, okay? He really does.

Honestly, he’s not actually as terrible at this whole business mogul thing as he’d like people to believe.

Tony was raised sitting in board rooms, groomed with the expectations of taking over SI all his life. He was taught how to be the most commanding voice in the room, how to wine and dine, schmooze and booze. Maybe he dedicated those talents to less… _professional_ pursuits in years past, but he still has the talents themselves, the ability. He’s smart and cunning and good at getting what he wants.

He just…hates that part of it all. So goddamn much.

The attention to detail that paperwork requires is so wholly different from the intricate electrical patterns inside his Iron Man suit. The idea of powering an entire building with Arc Reactor technology smack dab in the middle of New York is much more appealing than the busywork of securing the building permits, contracting a construction company, and overlooking the production timeline. Talking to a bunch of figureheads who are only concerned with numbers and production deadlines in comparison to when they were selling weapons is a crime when he’s introducing green energy initiatives and technology that will define a generation.

And sometimes—he’s willing to admit it—Tony sticks his foot in his mouth. He gets into his own technical babble and forgets other people in a boardroom aren’t him, aren’t on his level. When they can’t keep up with him, when they can’t immediately see what he sees…he gets frustrated. Dismissive. Catty.

(He’s also aware that it’s a defense mechanism—the only way he’d ever figured out how to stand up to Howard Stark was to be smarter without working as hard. It made his father feel frustrated and invalidated to no end, and it left Tony in the irrefutable right by the sheer notion of facts being facts, of his inventions and ideas constantly working when Howard’s didn’t.)

The point is—his faults at being in charge are why he begged off of CEO duties in the first place. Yes, it was partially motivated by the fact that he thought he was dying in a matter of months, but it was also because he felt trapped. His schedule was jam-packed with meetings and luncheons, posturing and hand-shaking. All of it was stopping him from the very important business of actually doing things, of creating.

He could blame Obie for his betrayals until he turned blue in the face, but the fact remained that Obie had taken that particular strain off of Tony’s back specifically so that Tony could spend hours in the lab by his lonesome. (He also used that free time to slam back a few too many and invite his more-than-willing partners to bed, but he stopped pretending to be above his past mistakes a long time ago.)

That’s why he chose Pepper as his incontestable successor. 

Pepper Potts, in comparison, is a business goddess. He bows to her prowess at effortlessly smoothing over the emotions of men who don’t respect her as much as she deserves. He's the kind to ruffle feathers in the pursuit of changing the world. She clips wings. 

Okay, he can admit to himself that he’s losing the metaphor, but it’s certainly more entertaining to think about his very badass and hot girlfriend rather than focusing on what must be the fiftieth powerpoint slide that he’s completely ignored.

And he intends to recognize that point most importantly—Pepper large and in charge of his company is truly, drop-dead, the sexiest he’s ever seen her. His old fantasies—and realities—of having his way with women on his desk were absolutely nothing next to the idea of Pepper telling him exactly how to pleasure her on _her_ desk, shoving aside the plaque inscribed _Pepper Potts, CEO_ to make room for _her_ body.

Just last night she turned him on by sitting on the couch in his house and signing business reports. She’d been confidently swiping her signature across page after page and he was utterly captivated by the way her manicured nails gripped her pen, her lip edging against her teeth in concentration, and god, P was really a sexual letter when you thought about it, it had to be—he was losing his mind watching the wet ink of it dry.

That starts him on another track, thinking of Pepper’s raised finger; waiting, waiting, waiting until the last document was signed before she allowed him to caress her hips, press kisses to her chest, he lingered and teased at her on the couch until she impatiently tugged him up to bed.

As if gifted with the ability to sense when Tony’s thinking about her—or more likely, about anything inappropriate in general during a meeting—there’s a a knock on the door, and behind it, Pepper’s assistant. Emily swiftly excuses him from the meeting on the grounds that Miss Potts needs to discuss something important.

As far as he knows, this is the most urgent thing he has going on today in her book besides taking her to a nice seafood bistro for dinner tonight. Either she’s taking mercy on him by letting him out of the meeting early, or something is on fire (possibly literally).

He makes small talk with Emily as they walk to the elevator and up to the executive floor. 

He’s gotten to know Pepper’s new assistant pretty well since she replaced Natasha, and the time spent together between meetings and events means there’s a lot of chances for small talk and the like. She has a brother out in Texas and a niece and nephew that she’ll occasionally share pictures of. She likes when they order Thai food for lunch but hates egg rolls. She has an eidetic memory, meaning she never has to check his schedule or Pepper’s twice.

Just as Emily is detailing the story of a fantastically terrible date from a few nights prior, Pepper apologizes for interrupting, pulls Tony into her office by the collar, and then locks the door behind him.

“Sit. Down,” Pepper commands, letting him go with a little shove.

He raises an eyebrow in question.

He can’t think of anything in particular that would put him on her bad side. He’d gone to the meeting. On time, even! That should earn him praise and maybe a midday visit to second base, not a lecture.

Then again, Pepper lecturing him is kind of distracting in itself if he tunes her out and focuses more on her lips, so this might actually be a reward in disguise.

“Nope,” she says, snapping her fingers in his face. “No, this isn’t a good thing, don’t get cute.”

“I’m always cute.”

Pepper sighs heavily, but it’s her Tony-related sigh, which can mean _oh, Tony, I love you even though you get on my nerves_ , or _I regret associating with Tony Stark in any capacity and am this close to threatening castration, taking my shares of stock, and finding a nice island paradise to move to_.

It’s a broad spectrum, her sighs.

“You can’t blame me for getting the wrong impression here, I mean…” He gestures to the locked door.

“You were going to get the wrong impression anyway,” Pepper replies. She unbuttons the sleek black suit jacket over her shoulders, revealing a silky blouse underneath.

He thinks she’s just cooling herself off, but then she unbuttons the shirt too, revealing one of her lacy bras, black and simple, but now literally the only thing he’s looking at.

“So I’m _not_ supposed to be thinking about your breasts right now…?”

“You’re supposed to be explaining why I had to change outfits three times this morning because I had to work around _this_.”

She points to a splotch of red marks trailing from her collarbone down to her breast.

He smirks, crossing one leg over another and leaning back into his chair with a cocksure, “Oh, that?”

“Tony—“

“I don’t see the big deal. It’s not like I went for your neck, your arms…you covered it up just fine.”

“It’s—you—!” She points her finger, then seems to realize she’s still standing there with her shirt open and buttons it up in a huff. “We’re not supposed to be dating, and you—you _marked_ me!”

It was her rule, that for a few months they were going to hide their relationship. Cleaning up after Stark Expo had just started earning her respect with the board, and people in the business world were finally taking her seriously. Since she wasn’t actually going to quit even though that’s what she swore at him up and down in the heat of the moment _and_ since he was a known playboy and she’d only just tamed down the rumors about sleeping her way to the top…he agreed.

But the path of the hickeys, though crude, do in fact form an S on her skin.

“S could be for anything,” he argues.

“You did this on purpose because you can’t stop yourself from marking your territory like some kind of dog.”

“Hey, I never said you were my— _territory_ , Jesus, that sounds so…ugh, I hate that, no, I just—“

“You just _had_ to let everyone know that we’re together!“

“No, I didn’t! Because I _can’t_!” He finds himself suddenly standing up. He breathes in, remembering where they are, that Emily and the other executives are on the other side of the door and the office only has so much soundproofing.

“I can’t—I can’t squeeze your hand in comfort, I can’t put my arm around you for photos, I can’t even give you a hug! I can barely take you to dinner without someone else there because the media might find out it’s a date.”

“You _agreed_ —“

“Yes, I did. I said that we could wait to make it public because—fun fact—I care about your feelings and I want you to succeed! I hate that my connection to you makes people not take you seriously. If I could fix that, I would.” He steps forward, taking her hands. “But honey, it’s been six months. Six _months_ of hiding from everyone but Rhodey and Happy that I—“

He thinks he’s not going to say it, but a look crosses her face. Like she expected that he wouldn’t. That he might not, ever. That she’s accepting of the fact that he’s too emotionally constipated to spit something like that out.

“I love you, Pepper,” he pronounces without nervous inflection, with no doubt in the air between them.She has to know. He has to make sure she knows. “That is not going to change. It hasn’t since I realized it months ago.

“I’m not laying claim to you, I’m not trying to make you my anything. But I’m yours. That’s just—that’s where I’m at, and I am _tired_ of holding that back just because some sexist assholes can’t separate how fucking brilliant and capable you are from the fact that you’re a woman and you’re sleeping with me.”

“Tony…” she trails off, looking sad. Apologetic, maybe. But he doesn’t want to hear excuses or the reasons that they have to still keep it in private. He already knows, and he’ll do it for her. 

He’ll forget the ring Happy’s been carrying around since after Afghanistan, after Obie. He’ll let the media think he’s sauntering around with other women when she marks him by accident. He’ll flirt and preen at attention all night long until he can climb into bed with her alone and show her this truth: she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, she pushes him in all the right ways, he loves her and some days it all stops and starts based on her presence at his side.

“Tony, wait—“ she tries, but he shakes his head and holds up a hand, stomping off and unlocking the door to leave before he says something he’ll regret. He’s not willing to risk it. He just needed to get it all out.

At the end of the day…he’d rather have her in private than not at all.

It’s been a stressful few days.

Tony has been trying to pretend that their fight didn’t happen. He calls and texts and wraps himself around her at night, but it’s all just—different, now that she knows how he really feels.

_I love you. I’m yours._

God, why does he have to be so—so _Tony_ about it?

Years Pepper spent cleaning up after his endless parade of meaningless sexual conquests. Years where he could care less if the latest celebrity model he screwed leaked a detailed account of their night, didn’t care if pictures of him half-naked and drunk off his ass with someone were all over the tabloids. Years!

And now, the one time in his life she’s asking for discretion in his sex life, the _one_ time—it’s not just about sex.

Which—okay, she knew. She wouldn’t have kissed him if he wasn’t a different man, a better man, one she could trust to be in a relationship with her. 

She just doesn’t want to give this up. Finally, she has standing ground at Stark Industries. She’s ending up on the news as _Pepper Potts, Stark Industries CEO_ instead of _Former Stark Assistant, Pepper Potts_. She’s worked her ass off for the last six months to reach this point, and she still gets jeering comments about her outfits online, or sees articles about her ability, her inability, the way she’s screwing up Howard Stark’s legacy. It never ends, the stupid things people say.

She tries to have a thick skin. She does, most days. She just never thought that she’d be here. She was a PA a year ago, and now she’s in charge of the entire company. She worries that just maybe, those comments are right. And ruining SI, the company Tony trusted her with to take in his new direction…it’s the last thing that she wants.

At the same time, though, she can’t discount Tony’s frustrations. She shares them. In public she microanalyses every touch between them, every word. She isn’t even allowed to adjust his constantly loosened ties without feeling like it’s something more. 

In private, it’s different. More accurately, it’s new play on the dynamic that’s always been between them. 

Their banter turns into flirting turns into his lips on hers. Most nights she ends up in his bed, his head on her breast, her hand resting gently over the Arc Reactor. His closet is slowly accumulating pieces of her wardrobe brought to spend the night and returned after getting washed or dry-cleaned.

He cooks more—both to impress her and so she’ll get the chance to eat instead of working all night. Some of it is edible, and other times he orders pizza and tries to hide the evidence of his newest disaster in the dishwasher. There’s an experiment with breakfast in bed that gets syrup everywhere and leaves them both breathless and laughing and so sticky they share a shower that ends much more successfully.

It’s not like she’s happy with the division either—she’s not ashamed of him or his reputation. Pepper has long known that he’s more than the media judges him to be. She hasn’t even told her own mother that the “new guy she’s seeing” is actually Tony. The holidays are coming up, and she wants to bring him home, and based on the fact that he doesn’t have much family left, he’d probably enjoy the visit.

She’s still mulling on all of it as they’re riding in the back of Happy’s car to the LA Children’s Hospital Gala. Maria Stark was enough of a contributor that they’re now creating a wing in her namesake, so they’re both attending the announcement party, accepting a plaque.

If they were publicly dating, she could keep holding his hand like she is now. This reminder of his mother is a good one, but still sore enough that his leg is shaking next to hers.

Pepper could support him like she wants to, if the secret was out. And isn’t that what this entire relationship is about, after all? Being partners? What was the point of assuring Tony’s worries when he couldn’t sleep last night if here, when it matters, she’s trapped behind a so-called professional visage?

The car stops, announcing their arrival at the red carpet. Happy gets out to open Tony’s door, and Tony offers his hand to help Pepper out of the car.

Tony tries to step away when their hands separate, but Pepper keeps him close, using the movement as leverage to wrap herself around his open arm, allowing him to escort her through the horde of flashing cameras.

It might be seen as too casual. It might be seen as just another event where Tony and Pepper are each other’s de facto dates. In that moment, she decides she doesn’t really care either way, and she expresses as much to Tony with a shrug to his questioning gaze.

At pressers, Tony is the more enigmatic, so she allows him to take the lead as they meander between camera crews all looking for a comment to air tomorrow morning. Still, it’s Pepper who knows which media outlets have given SI their more positive attention the last few months, and she subtly guides Tony in those directions, ignoring the others with a prim, knowing glance. 

That will teach _Entertainment Tonight_ to say her white business suits are tacky again.

Pepper knows that having herself on Tony’s arm is boosting his confidence. His walk has a certain swagger and he pays less attention to the sight of the open bar. She was in the wrong when she accused him of simply marking her skin as a show of masculine possessiveness before, but she knows that at the very least he’s happy to have her close for the night.

She assumes that he’ll peel off once she starts making the rounds, as is his way. He’s happily sociable at a party, but she usually gets shopped around to the business types with deep pockets and he’s more interested in the scientists and celebrities.

Instead, when he does meander away, he returns a moment later with two flutes of champagne, offering her one as he shakes hands with the group she’s involved with from the LA Children’s Hospital board.

“I’m sure you’re much too young to have met my mother—“ Tony says to the chairwoman herself that definitely rivals the age his mother would be, had she lived this long. “But she was always happy to give to this place. Word has it that I got a really bad ear infection and the nurses at the time were top notch. They didn’t even realize who they were talking to. Just saw her as any other worried parent.”

“We strive to show all of our patients and their family that kind of respect,” the chairwoman replies. She’s laying it on a bit thick, but Pepper and Tony are both used to it.

What she’s not used to is the feeling of Tony’s hand snaking around her waist. It settles at her hip as he keeps talking.

“You know, I had a conversation with Doctor Malas about advanced prosthetics on my way to get drinks. Considering that I’m running around with this thing saving my life—“ Tony taps the AR with his other hand. “I think it’s a worthy investment, right, Pep?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, absolutely. We’re also partnering with hospitals across the country—Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, Jackson Memorial in Miami, multiple university hospital programs—to build up an entire department around biomedical engineering projects.”

Tony’s hand, emboldened by the fact that he, A, distracted her and, B, got away with it, trails down a little further. Pepper shifts her champagne glass to her right hand and uses the other to catch his fingers and move them to a more appropriate place.

Pepper smiles up at Tony as if to encourage him to continue, but more accurately to warn him not to push it with her eyes.

He gets the message well enough, leaving his arm around her, but continuing their conversation by detailing how Stark Industries is planning to steer into their new role as a technology company in the medical sphere.

It’s well-spoken. Clearly wooing the chairwoman into being one of the first to purchase any such products.

Deserving of a reward, she thinks.

Pepper kindly wraps up the conversation with the board members, promising to see them all later in the evening after the announcement of the wing.

Tony rubs a hand up and down her arm, still acting as if he’s magnetically attached to her for the night now that he’s been given the chance.

“Where to next, Miss Potts?” He empties his champagne glass and dumps it on a passing tray.

“This way, I think.” She’s purposefully vague as she casually guides them over to an undecorated section of the hospital’s atrium. It’s nothing but elevators and empty halls around here. The noise of the party turns into a muted hum.

“What’s up?” Tony’s face scrunches with worry for her, so she soothes him quickly.

“I would really like to take a break from the party and go make out with you for a while.”

She tugs at his suit, pulling him fully around the next corner and sloppily pressing a kiss to his surprised, open mouth.

“Has a better sentence been uttered?” Tony jokes, cupping her face to angle her against him better.

“I love you too,” she supplies.

He looks up at her and it’s—everything. Tony, soft and warm against her, happier than he’d admit to anyone else.

Second guessing, he brings up, “We could get caught.”

“Isn’t that what’s supposed to make it more of a turn-on?”

He barks out a laugh, capturing her in another kiss and backing them into a waiting elevator. 

She may or may not hit the emergency stop button on the way up to give them their time alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I initially wrote New Amsterdam as one of the hospitals SI was partnering with before remembering the show is based on a book and referencing the real hospital instead. I just want to put a New Amsterdam/Marvel crossover in your mind, because now it’s in mine.
> 
> I have gifsets prepped for the next two days [that you can find on my tumblr](https://www.imgoingtocrash.tumblr.com), but I'll be back to writing for Day 5. The prompt is a soulmate AU, you say? ;)


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